EXCEPTIONAL WORKFORCE
Is your company on the lookout for an exceptional workforce? Bentonville has a brilliant talent pool that has a longstanding history of contributing creative ideas and forging new markets for the companies for which they work. Invest in Bentonville and reap the benefits of having access to educational institutions in the City of Bentonville and surrounding region that can customize programs needed for your company or organization.
LABOR FORCE
The City of Bentonville has total employment of of 58,884 workers.
Total businesses are 2,388.
As of December 2022, the unemployment rate in Bentonville is 1.4 percent (not seasonally adjusted), which is significantly lower than the State of Arkansas (3.2 percent) and the United States (3.6 percent) for the same time period.
WORKFORCE CULTURE
EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
Bentonville Public Schools has a total enrollment of more than 17,200 and 22 school campuses. They also offer 100% virtual online scholl options for grades 5-12. The school district is committed to providing excellent education through innovative, inspiring learning experiences. Notably, the ACT and SAT scores far exceed the state and national averages and the district has a history of fostering National Merit Finalists.
Thaden School opened in Bentonville in the fall of 2017 and will grow incrementally over the next few years to serve over 600 students, grades 6-12. Thaden School is a private school and is located in the downtown market district within walking distance from a remarkable variety of cultural and educational resources.
Haas Hall Academy in Bentonville is an open-enrollment charter school for grades 7-10 with an accelerated college preparatory curriculum. Haas Hall has four campuses across Northwest Arkansas.
Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy is an open-enrollment charter school serving grades K-12. The academy's mission is to provide students with a rigorous classical education in the liberal arts and sciences that cultivates intellectual excellence, wisdom, and virtue.
Arkansas Connections Academy is a tuition-free online public school that serves students in K-11.
The City of Bentonville is home to Northwest Arkansas Community College (NWACC). NWACC offers two-year Associate Degree Programs or transfer degrees that may be used to transfer to a traditional four-year college. The college offers Associates Degrees and certificates in fields such as Business, Computer Information Systems, Criminal Justice, Culinary Arts, Education, Environment, Fire Science, Funeral Science, Graphic Design, and Health Care, as well as workforce entry degrees or Associates in Applied Science Degrees. The Shewmaker Center for Global Business Development focuses on nine primary areas: Entrepreneurial Studies Institute, Retail Management Institute, Bill Stribling Sustainability Institute, J. B. Hunt Transportation-Logistics Institute, Randy and Valerie Lawson SIFE Center, John and Emily Douglas Learning Resource Center, University Partnerships, Business & Computer Information Division and Horace and Jaretta Hardwick Hospitality Center. The Southern Region National Child Protection Training Center at NWACC is the first of four regional centers. This facility serves a 16 state region and provides teaching to all mandated reporters, teachers, social workers, counselors, law enforcement officers, first responders, health professionals, attorneys, and members of our judicial and childcare systems. The NWACC Foundation recently completed a $3 million fundraising campaign for a “state of the art” training laboratory that will include a two-story mock home, mock courtrooms, child forensic interview rooms, practice medical exam rooms, interactive video capabilities and flexible use spaces to train child abuse professionals with the latest techniques to identify and eliminate child abuse situations.
The City of Bentonville is also within close proximity (26 miles) of the University of Arkansas’s main campus in Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas offers courses of study including bachelors, masters, and doctoral programs. Fields of study include, but are not limited to, accounting, agriculture, animal science, architecture, biology, chemical engineering, civil engineering, computer science, criminal justice, economics, education, finance, nutrition, general business, journalism, mathematics, nursing, music, physics, political science, and sociology.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences has a Northwest campus located in Fayetteville. The Northwest campus offers transfer from UAMS for the third and fourth years of medical school; transfer from UAMS for the third and fourth years of pharmacy school; MNSc (Advanced Practice Nursing) and PhD degree programs in nursing; and Associate and Bachelor degree programs in Radiologic Imaging Sciences.